Card feed apparatus



Jan. 2, 1962 H. J. KISTNER ETAL 3,015,484

CARD FEED APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 8, 1960 FIG.

INVENTORS HAROLD J. KISTNER JOSEPH J. PAJEREK A TTORNE Y Jan. 2, 1962 H. J. KISTNER ETAL 3,015,484

CARD FEED APPARATUS Filed Sept. 8, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofiice 3,015,484 Patented Jan. 2, 1962 3,015,484 CARD FEED APPARATUS Harold J. Kistner and Joseph J. Pajerek, Endicott, N.Y.,

assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 8, 1860, Ser. No. 54,680 6 Claims. (Cl. 27141) This invention relates to apparatus for feeding forms, such as tabulating cards, seriatimfrom a stack in a hopper, and more particularly relates to apparatus of the above general type embodying means for holding the leading edge of the bottom card in a predetermined position at a throat during the return or non-efiective stroke of one or more reciprocating or oscillating picker elements that during the following forward stroke advance such card through the throat.

The distances between the leading and trailing edges of respective tabulating cards (hereinafter referred to as the width of such cards) vary due to manufacturing tolerances, changes in relative humidity and front-to-back warp. In order to assure reliable and continuous feeding, the distance between the front wall of the hopper and the leading edge of the stationary card posts serving as the rear wall of the hopper must therefore be sufiicient to provide enough clearance for the widest permissible cards to move down toward the feed line of the picker without cocking or jamming.

In previously proposed apparatus the bottom card can be fiictionally shifted back toward the card posts by, and during the return stroke of, the picker or pickers a varying degree which increases as its width decreases. If the bottom card is quite narrow and the overlying card is of greater width and/or slightly warped, the leading edge of the overlying card can precede the leading edge of the bottom card and abut the throat. If this should occur, the overlying card (which is biased downward by a card weight on the top of the stack) can be driven into the throat by friction with the upper face of the bottom card as the latter is advanced during the forward stroke of the picker. This problem becomes more acute if the picker is of the vacuum type, because the bottom card will be sucked back toward the card posts during the return stroke of the picker.

The principal object of this invention is therefore to provide an improved apparatus capable of successively feeding intermixed forms, such as tabulating cards, of varying widths at high speed and embodying means for reliably feeding only the one card that is actually engaged by and during the forward stroke of a reciprocating or oscillating type picker means.

Another object is to provide an improved card feeding apparatus wherein, despite variations in the width of the various cards of a stack, the leading edge of the bottom card of the stack will be maintained registered at a substantially predetermined point (such as at a throat means) during the return stroke of the picker means so that said bottom card (rather than an overlying warped or longer card) will be advanced past said point by said picker means during its next forward stroke.

Still another object is to provide an improved card feeding device of the type described in the preceding objects and which is capable of use with picker means of the vacuum type as well as those of the standard nonvacuum type.

According to the invention, the apparatus for successively feeding forms from a stack in a hopper comprises two movable members each for contacting the trailing edge of a form at difierent times, and means for moving the respective members back and forth always in generally opposite directions in synchronized relation during a feeding cycle such that during one part of the cycle one of the members will contact a particular form and hold its leading edge at a substantially predetermined point while the other of said members is moved generally the opposite way and behind the trailing edge of said particular form and thereafter during the other part of the cycle said other member will be moved generally said one way and contact and drive said particular form past said point while said one member is moved said opposite way preparatory to exerting a registering bias on the following card.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings: 7

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a card feed apparatus embodying the invention shown with the cards removed and with one of the stationary card posts removed for clarity of showing;

FIG. 2 is a side view, partly in section and partly in outline and to enlarged scale, of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, with a registering member and a picker member in respective limit positions assumed at the end of the forward or card advancing stroke of the picker member; and

FIG. 3 is a view like FIG. 2 except with the various components in respective opposite limit positions assumed at the end of the return stroke of the picker member.

Description As illustrated in the drawings, the card feed apparatus embodying the invention comprises a hopper 10 having a preferably inclined front wall 11, vertical side walls 12 (only one of which is shown) and a bed plate 13 which is inclined slightly forward toward, and-spaced from, front wall 11 to define a throat passage 14. A pair of stationary card posts 15 (only one of which is shown) are removably attached, such as by screws 16, to a fixed support bar 17 to provide an edge 18 substantially parallel to front wall 11 and defining the rear wall of the hopper. The walls 11, 12, 18 provide an enclosure for receiving cards 19 (see FIGS. 2, 3).

Adjustably secured to the lower central portion of front wall 11 is a throat knife 20 which depends into, and restricts, the throat passage 14 sufficiently to tend to prevent movement of all but the bottom card through said passage. A throat roller 21 is disposed slightly more than one card thickness directly below the throat knife 20 and journaled in a support 22 carried by the bed plate 13. This roller 21 holds the central forward edges of the cards slightly oh the bed plate 13. As the bottom card is advanced, it passes over roller 21 and through throat passage 14 and into a plurality of pairs of feed rolls 23, 24 mounted on shafts 25, 26 respectively. Portions of the rims of the rolls 23, 24 project slightly into slots through the adjacent corners of the bed plate 13 and front wall 11, respectively, but they do not contact the cards while they are on the stack. The effective portions of the rims of these rolls engage a card only after it has been advanced into and through the throat passage 14.

To drive the feed rolls shafts 25, 25 and other driven elements hereinafter to be described, a drive motor (not shown) is connected via suitable gearing to a main drive shaft 2'1. Shaft 27 drives a connected gear 28 that meshes with a gear 29 on lower feed roll shaft 25. Power is transmitted from shaft 25 to upper feed roll shaft 26 via suitable gears 30, 31 to provide an upper peripheral feed roll velocity equal to that of the lower feed roll. These velocities are synchronized with the rate of oscillation of a pair of oscillating card feed members 32 to cause the cards to be fed at a desired rate by said members.

Secured to the drive shaft 31 to rotate therewith are a pair of cams 35. Each cam 35 engages and operates the free end of the respective cam follower 36, which followers at their opposite ends are secured to a rocker arm shaft 37. As the cams 35 are rotated, one follower 36 will be rocked one way and then the other follower 36 will be rocked the other way thereby to rock the shaft 37 defined limited degrees in opposite directions without back lash.

Each card feed member 32 comprises a rocker arm 38 clamped near its lower end to shaft 37 so as to be oscil lated thereby as said shaft is rocked. A swivel block or head 39 is swivelly mounted on a bolt 49 adjustably screw-threaded laterally into the outer end portion 41 of each rocker arm 38. A picker knife 42 is secured to the upper surface of each swivel block 39 so as to swivel therewith. Each picker knife 42 provides a knife edge 42a that is parallel to the edge 18 and can extend slightly above the bed plate 13 through a slot therein. Each knife edge 42a is engageable with the trailing edge of the bottom card of the stack to move such card forward into the feed rolls 23, 24. A curved support element 43 abuts the upper rear edge of the picker knife 42 and curves downwardly and then loops forwardly under the lower edge of the picker knife. This element 43 supports the card stack during the period after the bottom card'is engaged by the picker knife edge 42a during the forward stroke and until said edge moves rearward of the trailing edge of the cards during the return stroke.

The apparatus as thus far described is substantially identical with card feed apparatus of a type heretofore proposed.

According to the invention, a pair of spaced cams 50 (only one of which is shown) are secured to shaft 27 so as to rotate therewith. Each cam 59 is engageable by a roller 51 carried at one end of a corresponding follower 52. Each follower 52 is secured to and rocks a rockable shaft 53 journaled in bearings (not shown). Adjacent each follower 2 is a holding or registering fin- 'ger or member 54 that at its lower end is secured to shaft 53 to be rocked thereby. The upper part of the leading edge (the left edge, as viewed in FIGS. 2, 3) of member 54 is preferably beveled rearwardly at 54a. A helical spring 55 has its respective ends hooked to the midportion of one of the members 54 and to a bracket 56 suitably anchored such as by connection to support bar 17. Spring 55 acts through such member -54 to bias the shaft 53 counterclockwise as viewed'in FIGS. 2, 3 for thereby resiliently biasing each follower rolle'r Sitowa'rd contact with its cam 50 and also bias- 'ihg the leading edge of the members 54 toward the trailing edge of the cards 19. If preferred, however, the functions of the follower 52 and member 54 may be performed by two rigid arms of a bell crank rockably fulcrumed at its knee on a nonrotatable shaft 53.

The shaft 27 and hence cams 50, 35 will make one complete revolution per card feed cycle, such cycle being defined as the period of time necessary for the picker knife edge 42a to complete one full forward stroke and one full return stroke. However, the cams 35, 58 are so configured that the knife edge42a will be oscillated leftward while the member 54 is being oscillated rightward, and conversely, for reasons presently to be ex plained.

Operation Assume that the operator has placed a stack of cards in the hopper 10, and then placed a conventional card weight (not shown) on the top card, and then initiated the cardfeeding operation by starting the motor to start driving the main drive shaft 27.

As shaft 27 rotates ,-it will rotate the feed rollers 23,

24 through gears 28, 29, 30, 31. Also, through the cams 35 and followers 36, the shaft 37, and hence the rocker arms 38 and picker knives 42 carried thereby, will be oscillated in unison on an arc in timed relation but out of phase with the oscillation in unison of the members 54. In other words, as the knives 42 and their knife edges 4212 are oscillated forward, the members 54 will be oscillated rearward, and conversely.

Assuming now that the picker knives 42 have just completed their forward stroke, they will be in their extreme counterclockwise position and the registering or holding members 54 will be in their extreme clockwise position, as shown in FIG. 2. The leading edge of each member 54 will at this time preferably be slightly to the rear of the leading edge 18 of the corresponding card post 15, and hence spaced a slight distance behind the trailing edges of the cards 19. As main drive shaft 2'7 and hence cams 50, 35 rotate, the low points of cams 5% will approach the rollers 51, thus permitting spring 55 to operatively bias the members 54 and shaft 53 counterclockwise up to a limited maximum degree as necessary to cause the non-beveled parts of the members just below the beveled surfaces 54a to contact the bottom card and resiliently hold the leading edge of said card substantially in registry with the rear edge of the throat knife 20 against the rearwardly acting frictional force exerted on the under side of the bottom card by the support element 43 which is then being rocked rearward and clockwise a greater degree by shaft 37 under the action of one of the cams 35 and its follower 36. Spring 55 is merely of sufficient force to overcome such rearwardly acting frictional force and is insuficient to drive the bottom card through the throat passage 14 and into the feed rolls 23, 24. If the bottom card is exceptionally wide, the members 54 will contact the trailing edge of said card and possibly move it a very slight distance into the throat passage 14 where it will remain stationary until the forward stroke of the picker knives 42. It is to be noted that the maximum degree of movement of the members is relatively small and such movement will be terminated by contact of the rollers 51 with their cams 50 before the card could be driven into the feed rolls.

Meanwhile, the picker knives 42 and support elements 43 will move rearward far enough so that at the completion of their return stroke,.the picker knife edges 42a will be disposed slightly to the rear of card post edges 18 and hence the trailing edges of the cards, as shown in FIG. 3, for reasons now to be explained.

As the drive shaft'27 continues to rotate, the picker knives 42 will be rocked counterclockwise through the medium of the other of the earns 35 and its follower 36 and shaft 37 for initiating the forward stroke of the picker knives. Since at the commencement of the forward stroke, the picker knife edges 42a will be disposed slightly to the rear of the trailing edge of the bottom card, the picker knives 42 can accelerate a limited degree free of load until the knife edges contact said trailing edge; and picking of the bottom card is assured because the knife edges will have been retracted definitely behind said trailing edge. After the picker knife edges 42a contact the bottom card, the latter will be moved translationally between the throat roller 21 and throat knife 20 and advanced into the feed rolls 23, 24 which will further advance the bottom card into the transport system (not shown).

Meanwhile, as the picker knives 42 move forward, the registering members 54' will be rocked clockwise and rearward to their rear limit position as shown in FIG. 2, through the medium of earns 50, followers 52 and shaft 53; Since the leading edgesofthe members 54 are. retracted rearward of the card post edges 18, the cards 19 may drop freely so that the card next to the bottom card can contact andbe supported by the support elements 43 during the terminal part of the forward stroke of the picker knives 42. Because of the beveled surface 54a, the cards 19 near the bottom of the stack will tend to move forward into contact with the throat knife 2i) under action of the aforementioned card weight as the members 54 move rearward. At the end of the forward stroke of the picker krives 42, the various components will once again be in the respective positions in which they are shown in FIG. 2, thus completing a full card feed cycle.

It will now be seen that the improved card feed apparatus embodies novel members 54 which are resiliently biased forward during the return stroke of the picker knives 42 to exert a bias force on the trailing edge of a bottom card of a stack to maintain the leading edge of said card in registry with the throat knife 2! during such return stroke. The members 54 move rearward of the cards during the forward stroke of the picker knives 42 to permit the cards to move down and slightly forward so the next card will be registered in position to be picked on the following forward stroke of the picker knives. The oscillating action of the members 54 assures that a bottom card will be maintained registered despite minor variations in width from a normal or nominal width, and thus prevent a warped card overlying the bottom card from being jammed between the throat knife 29 and roller 21 during the forward stroke of the picker knives.

It will be apparent that while the card feed apparatus, as illustrated, comprises oscillating type picker knives 42 and oscillating type registering or holding members 54, reciprocating type picker knives and holding members could be employed and controlled in 180 out of phase relation in substantially the same manner as herein illustrated. Also, as previously mentioned, the functions of the followers 52 and members 54 could be performed by respective arms of a bell crank rockably fulcrumed at its knee on a nonrotatable shaft (instead of a rockable shaft like shaft 53). Also, the invention may be applied to card feed apparatus with vacuum type picker knives having suction ports in their upper surface forward of their picker knife edges; and in such case, the force of the bias spring 55 would be increased correspondingly to offset the consequent increase in the rearward frictional force excited during the return stroke of the picker knives by the vcuum acting on the under side of the bottom card.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for successively feeding forms from a stack in a hopper past a predetermined point, the combination of two movable members each for contacting the trailing edge of the bottom form at difierent times during a feed cycle, and means for moving the respective members back and forth in a synchronized out of phase relation to cause one of said members to be moved forward and contact the trailing edge of the then bottom form to maintain its leading edge substantially registered at said point during one part of said cycle while the other of said members is moved rearward in contact with the under side of said form, and thereafter during another part of said cycle cause said other member to be moved forward and contact said trailing edge and drive said form past said point while said one member is moved rearward preparatory to exerting a registering bias on the following form.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said members are moved back and forth with an oscillating type motion by the moving means.

3. The combination according to claim 1, including means for resiliently biasing said one member toward the trailing edge of said bottom form with a force substantially just suflicient to overcome the opposing frictional force exerted on said form by said other member during its rearward movement.

4. In a card feed apparatus for successively feeding the bottom record card of a stack past a throat, the combination of an oscillatable picker member and an oscillatable holding member each for contacting the trailing edge of the bottom card at different times in a card feed cycle, and means including timing means for oscillating said members synchronously in and out of phase relation whereby one will move forward while the other is moving backward and conversely, said picker member being operative during its forward stroke to contact and drive said bottom card past the throat, and said holding member being operative during its forward stroke to maintain the bottom card registered substantially at the throat while the picker member is in its return stroke, thereby to assure that the bottommost card will be advanced by the picker member during its next forward stroke and prevent a longer or warped overlying card from being jammed into the throat during such next forward stroke.

5. in a card feed apparatus for successively feeding the bottom record card of a stack past a throat, the combination of an oscillatable picker means having a picker edge for contacting the trailing edge of the bottom card to advance the latter past the throat during a forward stroke and havin a support means for supporting the cards during a return stroke by grazing contact with the bottom card, an oscillatable holding member for engag-v ing and disengaging such trailing edge during a forward stroke and return stroke respectively, bias means resiliently urging said holding member toward such engagement, and means including cams and followers for concurrently oscillating said picker means and member in opposite directions to cause said holding member to prevent said bottom card from being moved in the direction of its trailing edge by, and during the return stroke of, said picker means.

6. A card feed apparatus capable of successively feeding past a throat knife in a hopperthe bottom card of a stack of cards of varying dimensions along its axis of feeding, said apparatus comprising two members movable back and forth and having respective edges which during their forward movements contact the rear edge of the bottom card, and means including timing means to move one of said members back while the other member is being moved forward and conversely, said one member being moved forward to cause its edge to hold the bottom card substantially in a predetermined position relative to the throat knife while the other member is moving back to bring its edge behind the bottom card, said other member thereafter being moved forward to cause its edge to contact and advance the bottom card past the throat knife while the edge of said one member is moved back of the rear wall of the hopper to permit the cards to freely settle in the hopper without interference from said one memher, the portion of said one member above said edge providing a rearwardly and upwardly beveled surface to assure that the then bottom card will be contacted by said edge of said one member during its forward stroke even if such card is somewhat narrower than an overlying card, said beveled surface also tending to urge the cards next to the bottom card progressively forward into contact with the throat knife to preregister same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,633,937 Ford June 28, 1927 2,341,021 Curtis Feb. 8, 1944 2,626,147 Gjastein Jan. 20, 1953 

